Physics and Chemistry

cliveh · Apr 23, 2017

Film cameras combine physics and chemistry. Digital cameras are pure physics. I think that is why I like film cameras, as it crosses the bridge between two areas of science? What do others think?

pdeeh · Apr 23, 2017

I think I don't care

Prof_Pixel · Apr 23, 2017

Nonsense. There is a lot of pretty fancy chemistry involved in making sensors (as well as components like batteries). At the very basic level, both rely on the physics of light photons.

Nodda Duma · Apr 23, 2017

Don't forget engineering.

greg zinselmeier · Apr 23, 2017

this is a great question.... ill post later

markbarendt · Apr 23, 2017

Chemistry is just a discipline within physics.

railwayman3 · Apr 23, 2017

I understand what the OP is saying....the actual taking of the photograph involves the physics of light and the processing involves the application of chemistry, both of which have to be correct to produce a successful photo. You could add the application of art to the selection of subject and composition.

I don't think that the OP was intending to include all the skills and engineering involved in producing cameras and film, digital or analog, otherwise you would have to add the art and science of the designer, the financial and accounting skill of the managers of the camera and film makers, the science of the advertising agent who persuaded you to buy the camera, the skill of the driver who delivered the camera, not to mention the lady who made the tea for the factory.

railwayman3 · Apr 23, 2017

markbarendt said:
Chemistry is just a discipline within physics.

and physics is just applied mathematics....

faberryman · Apr 23, 2017

And I thought photography was philosophy.

cliveh · Apr 23, 2017

You could say any science is a branch of physics, but film photography makes the combination of physics and chemistry stand apart to produce a unique combination and art form as a symbiotic relationship, if this makes sense?

Gerald C Koch · Apr 23, 2017

Strictly speaking physics deals with the gross physical properties of matter; such things as density, magnetic susceptibility, melting point, ... Chemistry considers how elements and compounds react with one another. But there is some overlap. At schools I attended the exact same graduate class in physical chemistry was taught thru the Physics department as chemical physics.

railwayman3 · Apr 23, 2017

cliveh said:
You could say any science is a branch of physics, but film photography makes the combination of physics and chemistry stand apart to produce a unique combination and art form as a symbiotic relationship, if this makes sense?

That makes total sense to me.
I've sometimes thought the reason why I enjoy photograph is that I'm a very poor "artist" (*) with a brush or pencil, but always found physics and chemistry favourite subjects at school; so maybe analog photography allows me to indulge my artistic aspirations while applying and using something from these science subjects.
(* The art master at school once put in my report "he tries hard despite a complete lack of any artistic talant". )

Bill Burk · Apr 23, 2017

Did anyone here participate in the march for science yesterday? I saw the first few people gather with their signs and didn't realize it was a march until I saw swarms of people on the hill and saw the news later that it was a coordinated event.

markbarendt · Apr 23, 2017

When my daughter was in college the physics majors had a saying. Paraphrased here:

Physics is all there is, everything else is commentary.

Nodda Duma · Apr 23, 2017

Bill Burk said:
Did anyone here participate in the march for science yesterday? I saw the first few people gather with their signs and didn't realize it was a march until I saw swarms of people on the hill and saw the news later that it was a coordinated event.

No but I have colleagues who did. I told them they're really just complaining about funding cuts and reappropriations. Suggested they get better writing proposals. They didn't like that lol. How scientists get under each others' skin.

Photo Engineer · Apr 23, 2017

markbarendt said:
Chemistry is just a discipline within physics.

Wrong on so many many levels!

PE

MattKing · Apr 23, 2017

Photographic processes can be found at the intersection between the studies of chemical actions (Chemistry) and physical actions (Physics). Add the metaphysical (Art) to the intersection, and you get Photography.

Sirius Glass · Apr 23, 2017

The OP missed at so many levels. <<sigh>>

Halford · Apr 24, 2017

Bill Burk said:
Did anyone here participate in the march for science yesterday?

Yes - went to the one in Amsterdam. It was the only march I've been on with Star Trek references in the rabble-rousing speeches.

Halford · Apr 24, 2017

I'm surprised at the number of people who are responding in the negative to the OP. I think I relate to the same idea. I was a chemistry major back in the day, and I think that analog photography is one way in which I still indulge my interest in chemistry -- which digital photography doesn't really.

Alan Johnson · Apr 24, 2017

In my misspent youth I went to a lecture by Neville Mott of the physics Gurney-Mott theory fame.
I think the physics is pretty much built into the emulsion by the manufacturer, there is nothing much photographers can do about it and it is not talked about.

railwayman3 · Apr 24, 2017

Alan Johnson said:
In my misspent youth I went to a lecture by Neville Mott of the physics Gurney-Mott theory fame.
I think the physics is pretty much built into the emulsion by the manufacturer, there is nothing much photographers can do about it and it is not talked about.

What about understanding the nature of light, the colours of light, the effect of filters, the workings of different lenses, focal lengths, depth of field, calculations of exposure, and the effect of distance on flash exposures. All physics, and/or mathematics ?

markbarendt · Apr 24, 2017

Alan Johnson said:
In my misspent youth I went to a lecture by Neville Mott of the physics Gurney-Mott theory fame.
I think the physics is pretty much built into the emulsion by the manufacturer, there is nothing much photographers can do about it and it is not talked about.

railwayman3 said:
What about understanding the nature of light, the colours of light, the effect of filters, the workings of different lenses, focal lengths, depth of field, calculations of exposure, and the effect of distance on flash exposures. All physics, and/or mathematics ?

Yep. As far as the film is concerned, the only thing that matters is how much exposure it gets of the radiation it is sensitive to. Railwayman3 everything you describe can be defined mathematically and within the rules of physics.

iandvaag · Apr 24, 2017

My analytical chemistry professor often jokes that physicists are just failed chemists who couldn't grasp the concept of the mole, instead calculating everything in terms of individual photons, electrons, etc. We chemists are wedded to the real world.

cliveh · Apr 24, 2017

Photo Engineer said:
Wrong on so many many levels!

PE

Please explain.

Physics and Chemistry

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